Cheer

It’s good news that the forthcoming VA Butler Healthcare center in Center Township is moving toward getting a proper name. And even better news that it’s on track to be named after World War II hero Abie Abraham.

On Monday a resolution that would officially designate the center in Abraham’s legacy unanimously passed the U.S. House of Representatives. It now moves to the U.S. Senate, where Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, said it’s widely expected to pass with similarly sweeping support.

Abraham, who died in 2012, left behind a legacy of sacrifice and service to both the United States and Butler County. He survived the Bataan Death March after being captured in the Pacific Theater and, after returning home following the war, spent more than two decades volunteering at VA Butler Healthcare and ministering to the needs of fellow veterans.

Abraham’s dedication to the country and his fellow veterans can’t be praised often enough. He embodies the spirit of service and care to which VA systems across the country should aspire.

Jeer

This is what happens when a convicted murderer exercises his legal rights after being sentenced to die at the hand of the state. Richard Poplawski this week filed an appeal asking a judge to vacate his sentence, dismiss the charges against him and prevent prosectors from refiling them.

Poplawski is, among other things, objecting to prosecutors’ use of terms like “coward,” “evil” and “racist,” saying they were part of a campaign to demonize him to jurors.

That’s one interpretation. The other is that the government was using the only words in the English language that adequately describe a man who, in 2009, shot and killed Pittsburgh Police Officers Eric G. Kelly, Stephen J. Mayhle and Paul J. Sciullo outside a home in Stanton Heights.

The officers had responded to a 911 call from Poplawski’s mother about a domestic disturbance. Poplawski abused and assassinated them in cold blood.

This is a routine part of the legal dance that plays out after a death sentence has been handed down. It’s not surprising or unexpected, but that doesn’t make it any less disgusting or upsetting.

Cheer

Western Pennsylvania used to be steel country. These days it’s closer to being the country’s epicenter of self-driving vehicles, after Ford last week announced that it would invest $1 billion in a Pittsburgh-based company that works on the technology.

That announcement comes alongside efforts like Uber’s Pittsburgh-based foray into driverless vehicles, and the federal government naming the city one of the country’s 10 “proving ground sites” where self-driving technology will be developed and tested.

Since the 1980s, when the steel industry collapsed and left thousands of people without a clear way forward, this region has been searching for its new identity — and a chance to showcase the wealth of talent and work ethic that our people possess. It seems like this is that chance.